Edible Playdough (and a Couple More Summer Savers)

Between a very messy exploding homemade playdough incident and the older girls leaving some store bought playdough out and the baby choking on it, a few months ago I declared loudly that we were never doing playdough ever again! And I stuck with it for a while too.

We're coming to the end of summer and Daddy went out of town and we're bored. So I tried something that had always grossed me out a little, but the kids loved it: edible playdough. Rolling stuff around in your hands and then eating it sounded icky to me. But let's be honest, that's how my three-year-old eats most of her food right now anyway, especially bread and muffins. And not only did we not have to worry about the baby picking some up off the floor and eating it, we could give him some to play with.

There are variations on this all over the internet. Microwave 3 large marshmallows and around 2 Tbsp. peanut butter for 10 seconds. Mix them together and slowly add powdered sugar until it forms a dough. (I think I added a little too much and ours turned out a little crumbly, but it still worked.) I tasted it before it got smooshed in kids' hands and it wasn't too bad. I doubled the recipe and it gave both of my girls plenty to play with.

Here's the baby with his playdough. We didn't give him much and he ate most of it. He was pleased to be doing the same activity as his sisters.

The six-year-old made a dinosaur egg in a nest and a footprint. She also made a turtle, a volcano, and a snowman.

The three-year-old cheeseball spent the whole time making a huge cake. She rolls up little balls and smashes them on top of each other until she has a layered cake.

Their hands were greasy at the end, but they had fun and they actually didn't eat that much of it. Plus nothing exploded and no one choked. So I'd call it a success.

We've been doing a couple of other things that have kept us from going too stir crazy inside this summer. We have Wii Zumba games and my girls loves to do it and it gets a lot of energy out. And on the other end of the spectrum, we've been doing Cosmic Kids Yoga videos on YouTube. It's a British lady in full body sweater jumper things and she tells kooky stories with the yoga movements. It gets them moving but also relaxes them.

What are you doing to get through the last days or weeks of summer?

Summertime Activities

 It's barely more than a month before my oldest starts preschool for the first time. Our unscheduled days are numbered! I took a look at my list of fun things to do in the summer and realized that many of them are unfulfilled--even ones we can do at home on our own. It's also been so hot that I hate going outside, even to get the mail. But my girls love being outside even if they come in drenched in sweat 15 minutes later. So this week we did some ice cube painting.

I took the basic idea of sidewalk chalk paint (2 Tbsp. corn starch, 4 Tbsp. water, drops of food coloring) and froze it in cubes. Then we took them outside to let them melt all over some big pieces of paper. The moment we got everything set up, the clouds covered the sun. It was still hot enough to melt the ice cubes, but it took a little longer. I started them with spoons because I hate things staining my hands, but my youngest quickly abandoned hers for her hands. Which it's supposed to be a sensory experience, so she figured out the right way to do it despite her mother's phobias.

This activity could be done, and might be more fun, straight on the sidewalk. I used paper because we have a brick patio and it would be hard to slide the ice cubes around on it. The girls had fun, but again, it's potentially messy. I picked it because it sounded fun and I know I need to stretch myself to allow messy play to happen.

I also made Kool Aid playdough, which has been a huge hit. It smells better and the color was better than when I've used food coloring.

In a pot, combine:

1 c. flour
1 c. water
1/4 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. baby oil (you can use vegetable oil, but baby oil makes it smoother and smells better)
1 packet Kool Aid

Stir constantly over medium heat until a ball forms. Remove from pot and let cool. Knead it a few times to get it smooth.